Shanghai Pudong Airport reappeared a positive case, cargo flights were cancelled, shippers turned to

It is reported that following the previous discovery of five positive cases, another positive case was found at Shanghai Pudong Airport (PVG) yesterday (26th). The cargo business of the airport continued to deteriorate, cargo airlines cancelled more flights, shippers turned to other airports, and air freight charges from Shanghai to the United States increased.

Novel coronavirus pneumonia was confirmed in 1 cases in August 26th from 0 to 24 in August 26th. The case is an overseas cargo aircraft operator of Pudong airport. It is a close contact with previously confirmed local cases and lives in Pudong New Area. On August 20, it was intensively isolated for observation. During the isolation control period, the nucleic acid test was positive in the routine screening.

Many freight forwarders have stopped accepting reservations from Shanghai and tried to transfer flights under their contract control to other airports, but some of them also have their own epidemic restrictions, so the transit time has also increased.

It is reported that Mazda Motor Company said this week that due to the uncertainty of the resumption of PVG air cargo service, the company has suspended the operation of its manufacturing plants in Hiroshima and fangfu, Japan, until Friday.

Neel Jones Shah, global head of flexport air cargo, a freight management company, said that after obtaining one of the few apron vacancies in the freight terminal, they originally planned to resume the special charter operated by Atlas airlines this weekend, but their flight was cancelled yesterday after a positive case was found in Pudong airport.

Neel Jones Shah said that Shanghai International Airport Service Company (SIAS) has now isolated all employees related to airport freight.

Flexport signed a cargo flight contract with Atlas airlines from Shanghai to Los Angeles three times a week. The company has transferred two of its flights to Hong Kong for cargo transportation, and implemented the emergency plan in September.

On Friday, after several employees tested positive for nucleic acid, SIAS closed some terminals, and the reduction of cargo flight capacity exacerbated the decline of airport work level. Shanghai Pudong Airport implemented the "7 + 7 + 7" policy. Airport staff worked for 7 days, isolated in hotels for 7 days and at home for 7 days, which seriously reduced the freight efficiency.

All cargo airlines cancelled hundreds of flights to avoid long loading delays, which could cause pilots to run out of duty time and suffer losses. Some flights had to leave without cargo.

▎ cargo flights at Pudong Airport were cancelled and the shipper turned to other airports

EFL global, a freight forwarding company, said in a market update report for customers that 80% of flights at Shanghai Pudong Airport were cancelled this week and 50% are expected to be cancelled in the next two weeks.

In order to cope with the increasingly serious congestion at the beginning of this month, flexport banned goods from the United States to Shanghai from using its retained atlas cargo aircraft, so as to minimize the risk that export goods could not be loaded in time. The company informed the customer that due to the ground delay, the transportation time from Shanghai to the United States was extended by 5 to 7 days, and the transportation from Shanghai to Europe would be delayed by two to three days.

Matt castle, vice president in charge of air cargo of C.H. Robinson, a major U.S. freight forwarding company, said that they have operated several (truck) routes into Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Hong Kong at full speed, and rescheduled a special Canadian Air charter to Hong Kong to maintain smooth cargo flow.

Everstream analytics said that Qatar Airlines, air bridge cargo and polar air cargo, a joint venture between atlas airlines and DHL express, have transferred the goods to Guangzhou, Zhengzhou and Shenzhen Bao'an airports.

American Airlines and Canadian air cargo websites show that the two companies have cancelled passenger and cargo flights to Shanghai. Etihad airlines and Lufthansa Cargo also cancelled all flights from the airport, but a Cathay Pacific spokesman said on Wednesday that the company had resumed most of its cargo business.

Previously, China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines and other airlines cancelled many flights from PVG to the United States due to the impact of the epidemic.

▎ increase in air freight

Before the outbreak of the new epidemic, shippers were already struggling with limited aircraft supply.

Freightos, an international shipping digital booking platform, said that due to the shortage of aircraft supply, the freight from PVG to the United States increased by 15% to 25% in the past week, twice that of a year ago. Spot freight rates destined for Europe increased by 12% to 15%.

Freight buyers said that the air freight they pay is $10.50 per kilogram or even higher. It is expected that China's air freight will soon be close to $15 to $20 per kilogram, but the freight of lighter goods priced by volume will be lower. In my memory, the last and only time such a high rate appeared was in May 2020, when the passenger airlines completely grounded their flights and the government and hospitals were urgently ordering covid medical equipment.

Sias, jointly owned by Shanghai Airport Authority, Air China and several ground service companies, has not yet indicated when it will fully resume cargo business, but the large backlog of cargo in terminal buildings and shipper facilities means that the bottleneck may last for at least a few weeks after returning to normal.